Tag Archives: culture

The 56 men who signed their name to the Declaration of Independence of the United States some 238 years ago were more than just men who had a grievance against the government. As Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it, the situation these men found themselves in was at a point of no return. The men, their families, and the entire population of the 13 Colonies who supported them were making a powerful enemy.

Great Britain and King George enjoyed a dominant role on the world stage. It was a stage where people were told what they could and could not do; where nobility and pedigree falsely elevated their value to creation and deemed all others to be their indentured slaves. —- False gods declaring their superiority at the end of a rifle!

These 56 men who dared to guard the gates of liberty had had enough. Staying subjects to tyrants and the privileged would not continue; they would rather die. Patrick Henry’s, “Give me liberty or give me death,” was more than political rhetoric; it was a war cry. A cry of war against the British Empire and all it stood for.

Our forefathers knew the dangers of dependency on government, and were willing to risk all they had by declaring–Independence

Most things worth having usually come with sacrifice, patience, and diligence. King George and Great Britain did not respond to the declaration with a letter of apology. They did not pray God’s speed and blessings for this ‘Grand Experiment,’ but rather sent warships and troops. The fight for independence was one of great sacrifice for many. They paid the price with their own blood and treasure. With the initial sacrifices made, patience must now prevail.

It had been reasoned by members of the Continental Congress, that it would be better to have one governing tyrant 3,000 miles away than 3,000 governing tyrants one mile away. With this in the back of their minds, they took over 11 years to produce their new country’s governing policy: The Constitution of the United States of America.

Their patience has been rewarded. This document has not only stood the test of time but has been an example for those yearning to breathe free for more than two centuries. Now, with many sacrifices made by so many over the centuries, and the patience of our forefathers reaping the benefits to their successors, it is crucial that, “We the People’ are diligent to sustain our independence from our government.

When we enter this world, we are totally dependent. If other people neglect to take care of us; meeting our essential needs. We will not stay in existence for very long. From the basics of food, clothing, and shelter, to being taught to walk and talk, we are totally reliant upon someone other than ourselves. As we progress from being an infant to a young child, a natural order of progression is revealed. We have gone from crying to get what we want, to pulling chairs to the counter-top so we can reach the cookie jar and get what we want ourselves.

This natural order of progression continues our entire life. We are provided what we need by others while we are learning to provide those needs for ourselves. Once we can provide for ourselves, we are expected to help provide for others while they are learning. The natural order is to be independent of everyone except our Creator. To ask someone to provide for you when you can provide for yourself is more than wrong; it is evil, and over time, will destroy whatever society we have developed.

We Americans are a peculiar bunch; we will give the shirt off our backs to anyone who needs it, but if someone tries to take that shirt without our permission, his hand will be slapped away. To keep our independence as a people, we must take back our responsibility to provide for those around us who cannot provide for themselves. We must teach them to pull the chair up to the counter-top to get their own cookie,and unitedly reject the “usurpation” by our government for those who refuse to provide for themselves and cry to it for help.

Usurpation was the main grievance our founding fathers had with King George.(Usurpation is when a person, organization, or in our case, a government wrongfully puts themselves in a position of authority.) When we were children, if another child tried to boss us, we would say things like: “you’re not my mother,” or “who died and left you boss?” As adults, we must say to those who wish to usurp authority over over us, “there is only one God, and I am convinced it is not you.” The government of the United States is not our God!!!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. –that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” -The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.-

The above is the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. In it, our forefathers declared our dependence on our Creator, and only our Creator for: our life, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness. The government is instituted by the dependents of the Creator to secure these rights.

I would paraphrase all of this into one simple sentence. Our forefathers believed the people of this nation were to be dependent on God and God alone, and the institutions of government were put into place to secure the independence of the people from anything other than God.

Our forefathers declared these things to be self-evident, and I could not agree more. I think it is self-evident that the first order of our government is to ensure that we do not become dependent on anything other than God Himself, and that includes the government. To not do so would be in direct conflict with the Declaration of Independence.

The cycle of dependency

God creates

God provides

Creation is blessed

Creation is spoiled

Creation becomes independent of God

Creation destroys itself

God creates

“You shall have no other gods before Me,” was not a suggestion. This mandate is critical to the existence of all creation.

Creation can only be dependent on its Creator.

If you have ever read through the Old Testament, you will have no problem correlating how God and His creation are to coexist. The children of Israel were a “Chosen People.” But chosen for what? It was chosen to be an example to all creation. The nation of Israel went through the above cycle over and over. Israel would be in need……. God would meet their need….. Israel would be blessed and thankful….. Israel would become complacent…… Israel would lean on its own wisdom………. Israel would find itself captive to something other than God….. Israel would cry out in need….. God would meet their need. If you have never read through the Old Testament with this in mind, do so. It will give you a greater depth of God’s mercy and grace.

Today we find ourselves on a slippery slope. We have a great nation blessed by God, but we have become complacent. We have begun to think ourselves to be the reason our nation is great. Our institutions of government have become too powerful and self-indulgent. It seems our nation is on a neck- breaking pace to make everyone a dependent on some form of the government. This puts our liberties in great jeopardy because it violates the critical mandate of our creator; “thou shalt have no other gods before Me”

If we do not reverse this trend, future generations will be dependent on the creation’s institutions (governments). They will be lost in their ability to manipulate what God has created and will think themselves independent of the Creator. The Bible refers to this as the vanity of the mind (emptiness of the mind),

One voting left the other voting right while at the same time doingthe right thing is left out.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, the above caption speaks volumes. If we look closely, we can see a donkey in a voting booth on the left side, and an elephant in a voting booth on the right side. These two animals were trained and led into these booths, most likely lured in by incentives; perhaps a carrot or something sweet. Letting the imagination go when comparing this picture with our current voting process would be very entertaining but, I will restrain myself for the sake of a more helpful conversation.

I want to spend this month’s culture segment on one word, the word that is being thrown around in the media as something “we the people” should just accept. The word is…. “partisanship.” Partisanship as described in the Oxford dictionary of English is: prejudice in favor of a particular cause; bias. Webster’s dictionary describes partisan as: an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, esp. A person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance. Synonyms for partisanship are words like; bias, onesided, prejudiced, bigoted, and narrowminded. And as if this wasn’t enough to make us leery of being partisan, patriotic phrases such as, ”the United States of America,” ”united we stand,” ”one nation under God indivisible,” or,”out of many one,” seem to be in direct contrast to this word.

Holding our principles unwavering is our patriotic duty and will make our country stronger as long as those principles are also held in a uniting fashion. Holding principles in an exclusionary manner only pits American against American at a time when we need all hands on deck in order to keep our country afloat. I am convinced Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Libertarians have an equal amount of good and bad ideas, and I would prefer to take the good ideas from all parties and leave all the bad ideas behind.

When we pledge allegiance to our flag, we are pledging allegiance to the Republic our flag stands for. To give allegiance to parties or organizations above our country for any reason is not only unpatriotic; it is treasonous. Regardless of the political party we most agree with, we must never give up our independence. We do not vote by proxy, we must all do it individually. Individual responsibility to country will put our nations’ house back in order.
And that is my soapbox; individual responsibility.

There are two things I want to accomplish with this article. First, to all American Patriots; I want to share my motivation to do everything I can to preserve our country. Simply put, I think of a soldier. A soldier puts on their boots every morning and goes to a place where they can best defend the liberties of our country’s citizens. They have the resolve to accomplish their mission or die trying. They are taking care of all the dirty and dangerous jobs.

Defending those same liberties our soldiers are willing to die for, requires that the citizens themselves stand up and defend against those who wish to take them away from within. To leave our job undone is an insult to the men and women in uniform.

Second, to those who are faith based, I want to share some thoughts for you to consider. “To the angel of the church of the United States write.” ……………. Just saying, what if!

Let’s consider some” talents” we as a Church have been entrusted with. Freedom of religion, freedom to assemble peaceably, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to petition the Government, and that’s just in the first amendment of the constitution. As important as these are they are secondary to the concept of self governing.
Our forefathers had Divine insight in setting up a Representative Democracy, which means we have a government “by the people and for the people.” Our forefathers did not have complete confidence in the people’s ability to govern themselves. They knew the people were smart enough, talented enough, hardworking and strong enough, but as evidenced in their writings they were all concerned about the sustainability of the people’s virtues.

I believe that God has blessed the United States of America for the purpose of blessing the entire world and that He left the sustainability of the virtues of the people to the influence of His Church inside a representative democracy. To put it bluntly, the Church has a critical role in defending the freedoms of the citizens of our country, it is to example the virtues and exercise the rights God has given to the people of this great nation. Our nation has approximately 320 million people, of that 320 million, 80% profess a Judeo Christian affiliation, with 25% of the nation’s population being under 18 years of age that leaves approximately 192 million voting age people who are influenced by Judeo Christian values. In the 2012 Presidential election, there were about 127 million votes cast, leaving about 113 million voting aged people unaccounted for, of which 80% of them profess to have a Judeo Christian affiliation.

With numbers like these I can’t help but wonder if many of the members of the church of the United States of America have buried their talents and are waiting the Lord’s return. The question is, what is the state of our reunion? Will we the Church be weighed and found wanting? Will the Lord say ”well done good and faithful servants” or will He call us evil and lazy?

It is not my desire to belittle or shame anyone. My hope is to inspire those who love God and country to be engaged, alert, and well informed. A goal for every American should be to go to the voting booth with the dilemma of voting for the best of two goods.

Keep in mind with the best of two goods we can’t lose, but with the least of two evils we can’t win